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If that hose was that brittle, it was wise that you changed it, so "mistake" justified

+1. Many times I have to slice hoses with a razor blade to keep from breaking the solenoids or whatever nipple they may be connected to. The lesser of 2 evils and you won't have a vacuum leak when it is back together. Good call.

Lovemz3, so glad you posted that, even as a reminder. I'm about to do mine this weekend and I appreciate the heads up. Thanx.

Make sure when you do the gasket replacement that you carefully pry off the gasket and make sure you clean up with a Q-Tip any plastic/rubber that gets in the valve and the casing. YOU DO NOT WANT THINGS FALLING INSIDE THE VALVE AREA.

Be sure to put RTV around the perimeter but especially the sloping portion on each end.

Finally, I can't stress it enough that you remove the wires/hoses from the bracket that holds them so you DO NOT BREAK A HOSE! =)

Hint- I also used a Q-Tip to clean the inside track of the cover where the rubber goes in. A lot of times the old gasket breaks off inside the valve cover and you have to get it out with a q-tip or flat head.

If you do break the hose, don't worry. I replaced mine with a generic high heat resistant rubber hose from autozone. I bought a few different sizes to try to match it.

Great information. Do you know the tork specs? Will get this done as soon as the gasket comes in. This seems to be a real common thing on the engine. ic

I don't know the torque specs for around the gasket but there are roughly 6 or 8 bolts for the gasket cover (its been a while). I recommend you tighten them in a counter opposing motion whereby you tighten one end a little a then another end a little. This way you get an even seal.

Feel free to shoot me a message or post on here if you have a problem.